Complaint filed against Jagan, others in Hyderabad

Hyderabad : A complaint was lodged here against former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and others accusing them of “malicious acts of defiling” the sanctity of Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple and for hurting Hindu religious sentiments following allegations of adulteration of ghee used in the famous Tirupati ‘laddu prasadam’.

Advocate K Karuna Sagar, who filed the complaint in Saidabad police station, citing a lab report, said he was shocked to see it. He requested the police to investigate the matter and take appropriate action against Jagan Mohan Reddy and others for allegedly undermining the sanctity of the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple and for hurting the religious sentiments of millions of Hindus under sections 298 and 299 of IPC.

Meanwhile, police in Ahmedabad in Gujarat on Saturday registered a case against seven users of social media platform ‘X’ for allegedly spreading misinformation that the ‘low quality’ ghee used for making laddus at the Tirupati temple belonged to the ‘Amul’ brand.

Anand-based Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets its milk and dairy products under the brand name ‘Amul’, has denied having supplied ghee (clarified butter) to TTD, which manages the temple.

As per the FIR, X users of seven different handles spread misinformation that ghee with animal fat used for preparing laddus for Tirupati Balaji temple belonged to the ‘Amul’ brand with the intention of harming the reputation of the GCMMF, the cybercrime police station official said. These X users spread misinformation that ghee sold under the Amul brand was used to prepare laddus which is then used as ‘prasad’ (offering) at the temple in Tirupati, thereby damaging the reputation of the co-operative organisation, it said.

The FIR was filed at the Ahmedabad cybercrime police station. The accused persons were booked under sections 336 (4) and 196 (1) (a) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita dealing with forgery intending to harm the reputation of any party, and promoting enmity on grounds of religion, race, etc, respectively. The police also invoked provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act, the official said. The GCMMF issued a clarification on its X handle ‘Amul.coop’ on Friday night and said it never supplied Amul ghee to the TTD.